646677

research-article2016
EXT0010.1177/0014524616646677The Expository TimesKangwa

Article
The Expository Times
1­–12
Pentecostalisation of Mainline © The Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/0014524616646677
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Jonathan Kangwa
UCZ University College

Abstract
The spread of Pentecostal-charismatic churches is changing the Christian landscape in Africa. In
the process mainline churches, including the Roman Catholic Church, are getting transformed. The
present article considers the impact of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement on one African mainline
church, namely the United Church of Zambia (UCZ). Based on relevant research and using social
change theory as an analytical tool, the article concludes that the Pentecostal-charismatic movement
in Africa is challenging mainline churches to redefine ways in which they do mission and respond to
people’s spiritual, physical, social, and economic needs.

Keywords
Pentecostalism, charismatic movement, mission, United Church of Zambia, mainline churches,
Africa, social change

Introduction The shift in the centre of gravity of Christianity

Pentecostal-charismatic churches are growing
at a fast rate, both in Africa and in the African
diaspora.1 It is predicted that, if the current
rate of increase continues, by 2025, about 69
per cent of Christians worldwide will be living
in the global south and about 32 percent in the
global north.2 Babatunde Adedibu notes:
1 Babatunde Adedibu, ‘Mission from Africa: A call to Re-
imagine Mission in African-led Pentecostal Churches in
Britain’, Missio Africanus: Journal of African missiology
1.1 (2015): 39–52.
2 Adedibu, ‘Mission from Africa’, 40.
[from the global north] to the majority of the
world [in the global south] has overlapped with
the global rise of Pentecostalism characterised
by its emphasis on mission. Pentecostal and
charismatic movements, in all their “multifaceted
variety, probably constitute the fastest growing
churches within Christianity today.”3
While the Pentecostal-charismatic movement
is shaping the growth of world Christianity, it
3 Adedibu, ‘Mission from Africa’, 40.
Corresponding author:
Jonathan Kangwa
Email: jonathankangwa@yahoo.co.uk

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2 The Expository Times 
is also re-shaping, if not dictating, beliefs and
practices within African Christianity. Mainline
churches are challenged to redefine the way in
which they do mission and to focus more on the
spiritual, physical, and economic challenges of
people in Africa.
Pentecostal-charismatic churches on the
continent are many and of varied charac-
ter. They include new forms of Christianity,
Pentecostal and charismatic churches with links
to the United States, as well as a great number
of African Initiated Churches (AICs) which are
Pentecostal in nature. AICs are often associ-
ated with charismatic and Pentecostal move-
ments because they share a belief in healing
and prophecies. However, as Kimhong Hazra
writes, AICs differ from classical Pentecostal
and charismatic churches because “their roots
are strictly in the African cultural and reli-
gious contexts and their theologies are vastly
different”.4 However, all these new forms of
Christianity, including classical Pentecostal-
charismatic churches and AICs, pose a huge
challenge to mainline churches in Africa, which
over a long period have adhered to European
liturgy, theologies, and worldviews.
Generally, changes in religious beliefs and
practices—including in Christianity—can be
attributed to social factors. Scholarly studies
of processes involving social change show that
societies tend to create boundaries protecting
them from outsiders.5 In a community where
rituals of faith are celebrated such as baptism
and Holy Communion, these serve to initiate
believers and to demarcate the different com-
ponents of the community of faith. Rituals
express the significance of faith, validating it
4 Kimhong Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism and
the Charismatic Movement’ (United Church of Zambia
Theological Training programme, 2003), 26.
5Doug Reeler, ‘A Three-Fold Theory of Social Change’
(Cape Town: Centre for Developmental Practice, 2007),
1–33; Kapambwe Lumbwe, ‘Indigenous mfunkutu and
Contemporary ubwinga (wedding) music of the Bemba-
Speaking People of Zambia: Continuity and Change’,
Journal of the musical arts in Africa 10 (2013): 71–101,
on 73.
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and resulting in the incorporation of partici-
pants into the wider society.
Reeler and Lumbwe list three types of
change, namely emergent change, transforma-
tive change, and projectable change. The types
of change are inherently part of the development
of human beings.6 First, society can experience
emergent change when people learn and adopt
new beliefs and practices by undergoing day-to-
day life as individuals, as families or as commu-
nities. The process may take place consciously
or unconsciously. Secondly, people may adopt
new beliefs and practices through transforma-
tive change as a result of some form of crisis.
For example, when a community suffers high
levels of unemployment, or a pandemic such as
HIV and AIDS, or climate change, people are
likely to adopt other beliefs and practices help-
ing them to survive. Thirdly, people may adopt
new beliefs and practices through projectable
change. This happens when they undertake a
well-planned and conscious process of change.7
Change is inevitable. Societies and institu-
tions always experience both change and con-
tinuity in their beliefs and practices.8 Owing
to external factors such as globalisation and
secularisation, social institutions, including
the church, may change dramatically in some
aspects while remaining constant in others.9 As
regards the United Church of Zambia (UCZ), it
is obvious that members have been acculturated
by external influences such as colonisation,
western forms of Christianity, migration, glo-
balisation, and Pentecostalisation. As a result,
beliefs and practices in the UCZ have adopted
6Reeler, ‘A Three-Fold Theory of Social Change’, 9;
Lumbwe, ‘Indigenous mfunkutu’, 73.
7 Reeler, ‘A Three-Fold Theory of Social Change’, 10–17.
8 T. C. Boas, ‘Conceptualising Continuity and Change: The
Composite-Standard Model of Path Dependence’, Journal
of Theoretical Politics 19.1 (2007): 33–54, on 33; Lumbwe,
‘Indigenous mfunkutu’, 73.
9K. Thelen, ‘How Institutions Evolve: Insights from
Comparative Historical Analysis’, in J. Mahoney and D.
Ruschemeyer (eds), Comparative-Historical Analysis in the
Social Sciences (New York: Cambridge University Press,
2003), 208–240, Lumbwe, ‘Indigenous mfunkutu’, 73.
Kangwa
forms, structures, and qualities of Pentecostal-
charismatic churches. Current beliefs and prac-
tices, such as the use of anointing oil, praying
for water and promising people financial mira-
cles within seven days, have emerged from the
interaction between Zambians and new arrivals
from other contexts and churches, for example
prophet T. B. Joshua’s Synagogue Church of
All Nations (SCOAN).
Migration or change of geographical loca-
tion often result in the mixing of beliefs and
cultures. Apart from international migration and
social mobility, Zambian people tend to move
from rural life in villages to an urban existence.
This affects people’s outlook on life and on the
world. As society changes, religious beliefs and
practices are also transformed to suit prevailing
new lifestyles.10 Processes of social, political,
and religious change are strongly impacted by
cultural influences. People who have acquired a
western education tend to identify with western
lifestyles, expressing a new self-image and per-
sonal standards and the attainment of a higher
status in society. At the same time, they are
not completely detached from their traditional
African background and culture. As a result
they often adopt Christian practices that mix
African culture with western secular beliefs.
A closer look at the UCZ shows how social
change can affect beliefs and practices.
Formation of the United
Church of Zambia
The UCZ was formed on 16th January, 1965,11
when four mainline missions created a union
representing different Christian traditions.
These were the Paris Evangelical Missionary
Society (PEMS) which had arrived in Zambia
in 1884 under the leadership of a French
Calvinist missionary, the London Missionary
10 Lumbwe, ‘Indigenous mfunkutu’, 74.
11Philippe Burgers, Francois Escande, and Andre Honegger
(eds), The Spread of the Gospel in Barotseland: From the
Paris Mission to the United Church of Zambia (Paris:
DEFAP, 2010), v.
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3
Society (LMS) that established its first mis-
sion station at Niamukolo in 1885, the
Primitive Methodists (who later joined with the
Wesleyan Methodists), the Church of Scotland
(Presbyterians), who opened a first station in
Mwenzo (north-eastern Zambia) in 1882, and
the Church of Barotseland.12 The union was the
result of many years of negotiations. Thus, in
1965, the Church of Central Africa in Rhodesia,
which was itself the result of a union of the
Church of Scotland and the London Missionary
Society, the union church of the Copperbelt, the
congregations of the Copperbelt Free Church
Council, the Church of Barotseland (born out of
the PEMS), and the Methodist church amalga-
mated into the UCZ.13
It is claimed that, unlike earlier local church
groupings instigated by white colonial mis-
sionaries, the formation of the UCZ was driven
by God’s spirit of unity as recorded in Romans
15:5 and by an African spirit of integration.14 In
spite of this claim, however, the church unity
in Zambia was more obviously the result of
political machinations by President Kenneth
Kaunda and his United National Independence
Party in an effort to crack down on Barotse
activists who advocated for the secession of
Barotseland from Zambia. Kaunda, assisted
by his friend, Rev. Collin Morris, a Methodist
missionary, pushed for the church union in line
with the political philosophy of “one Zambia,
one nation”, aiming for the creation of a one-
party state.15 In spite of its inception under a
cloud of political machinations by Kaunda, the
UCZ had a tremendous success. According to
statistics the UCZ had in 2009 a membership of
over two million people, making it the largest
12 Bwalya S. Chuba, A history of Early Christian Missions
and Church Unity in Zambia (Ndola: Mission Press, 2005),
15–24.
13 ‘The United Church of Zambia Constitution, Rules and
Regulations’, revised 2014, 1.
14 UCZ Synod, <http://uczsynod.org/about/ucz-history/>.
Accessed 09/01/2016.
15 Akashambatwa Mbikusita-Lewanika, ‘The Church of
Barotseland on the Cross’, Kwacha 4 (2015): 29.
4 The Expository Times 
protestant church in Zambia.16 The tremendous
growth can largely be attributed to its resilience
when, after 1999, it accommodated Pentecostal
and charismatic ways of worship and evan-
gelism. The UCZ spreads the gospel through
evangelism, the running of schools, hospitals,
orphanages, and developmental projects. Thus,
the church strives to attain holistic mission by
supporting, equipping, empowering, and heal-
ing its followers, resulting in strong community
building and development.17
After church union, the theology, doctrine
and forms of worship in UCZ were based
on those of the mission churches that pre-
ceded it. The missionaries who had come to
Zambia from Europe were influenced by the
Enlightenment. They emphasized a perceived
dichotomy between the spiritual and the secu-
lar. They rejected the belief in ancestors and
spirits that was prominent in the African world-
view. European missionaries believed in “the
two kingdom theology”, which distinguished
between the spiritual and the material world.18
African converts to Christianity were taught to
abandon their traditional culture and concen-
trate on preparing their souls for life in heaven.
They were made to believe that, as Christians
are mere pilgrims on earth, economic, social,
and political matters are of little importance to
them. Their real home is heaven. African con-
cerns such as witchcraft and demon posses-
sion were ignored or dismissed as primitive.19
Worship and the singing of hymns in church
followed the patterns of European “mother”
churches. The kind of theology preached by
16 UCZ Synod, <http://uczsynod.org/about/ucz-history/>.
17UnitingWorld, ‘United Church of Zambia’, <http://www.
unitingworld.org.au/about/our-overseas-partners/africa/
united-church-of-zambia/>. Accessed 09/01/2016.
18Isabel Apawo Phiri, ‘President Frederick Chiluba and
Zambia: Evangelicals and Democracy in a “Christian
nation”’, in Terence O. Ranger (ed.), Evangelical
Christianity and Democracy in Africa (Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2008), 95–249.
19David Gordon, Invisible Agents: Spirits in Central
African History (Athens, OH: Ohio University Press, 2012).
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European missionaries and African ministers
trained by them, for example the Rev. Joel
Chisanga, left many Africans dissatisfied. They
longed for a form of Christianity that would be
in harmony with their African worldview. At
Lubwa Mission, for instance, many Christians
left the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland
to form the Lumpa church under the leadership
of Alice Lenshina.20 When the Pentecostal-
charismatic movement from the global north
reached Africa, and eventually Zambia, many
people left the UCZ to join them.
Origins and Development
of Pentecostal and
Charismatic Movements
Although the terms ‘charismatic’ and
‘Pentecostal’ are often used interchangeably,
they have different meanings. ‘Pentecostal’
refers to the events recorded on the day of
Pentecost in Acts 2:1–12. The word ‘charis-
matic’ is derived from the Greek word char-
ismata, referring to spiritual gifts as listed in
Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12.21 The Greek
word charisma means ‘free gifts of the Holy
Spirit’. The concept was first coined by an
Anglican priest, Dennis Bennett, who told con-
gregants that he was filled with the Holy Spirit.22
Bennett put strong emphasis on baptism in the
Holy Spirit, recovery by the church of the char-
ismatic gifts and the fruits of the Holy Spirit,
and on the belief that the Holy Spirit is the link
between God and the world.23 Charismatics
draw on the Hebrew word for spirit, Ruach (Gen.
1:2), and the Greek word for spirit or breath,
Pneuma (John 1), in arguing that the Holy Spirit
20J. Hudson, A Time to Mourn: A Personal Account of the
1964 Lumpa Church Revolt in Zambia (Lusaka: Bookworld
Publishers, 1999); Gordon, Invisible Agents, 131–156.
21 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 26.
22Denis Sikazwe, ‘Charismatic Worship Part One’, United
Church of Zambia Kwacha East congregation, Christian
Training Committee manual (2002), 1.
23 Sikazwe, ‘Charismatic Worship’, 1.
Kangwa
is God’s agent in creation. They believe that the
Holy Spirit gives the power of leadership and
prophecy and often manifests itself in ways that
by human beings are perceived as extraordinary
and supernatural. According to Denis Sikazwe,
the Holy Spirit fills human beings with dynamic
power (dunamis), enabling them to perform
signs and wonders. All human beings are gifted
in this way and therefore can exercise ministry
in common everyday events.24
The history of the Pentecostal-charismatic
movement can be divided into three stages.
Asamoah-Gyadu notes:
Contemporary Pentecostalism refers to the
spirituality of the new Pentecostal Churches
that have burgeoned in Africa since the last
three decades of the twentieth century. Iconic
charismatic leaders, modern and fashion
conscious outlook, contemporary worship forms,
extensive use of modern media technology, and
messages of existential success and material
prosperity…25
The early stage of the phenomenon is called
classic Pentecostalism (1900 to the 1960s).
Charles Fox Perham (1873–1929) established
the idea of Pentecostalism in 1901. Fox devel-
oped his teaching on the basis of the experi-
ence of Pentecost as described in Acts 2:1–13.
After a revival meeting, held in Azusa Street,
Los Angeles in 1906, the Pentecostal Holiness
church was founded.26 The Assemblies of
God denomination was formed in 1914. The
movement was characterised by an empha-
sis on the speaking in tongues (glossolalia).
The Azusa Street mission (1906–09) and the
work of Joseph William Seymour (1870–1922)
served as catalysts for the worldwide classical
Pentecostal movement. It was largely defined
by the phenomenon of the gift of tongues,
which has been associated with worship in
24 Sikazwe, ‘Charismatic worship’, 5.
25 Kwabena J. Asamoah-Gyadu, Contemporary Pentecostal
Interpretation from an African Context (Oxford: Regnum
Books, 2013), 80.
26 Sikazwe, ‘Charismatic Worship’, 1.
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5
black communities. The movement evolved,
based on the theology of the Holiness move-
ment, which focused on God’s blessings, divine
healing, sanctification as post-conversion expe-
rience, and pre-millennialism.27
The first wave of Pentecostalism originated
in ex-slave communities in the USA from where
it spread to Latin America and Africa. In North
America the movement addressed issues related
to reconciliation between white and black peo-
ple. Black communities in Africa easily identi-
fied with classical Pentecostalism and later with
the charismatic worship because of their simi-
larities to African spirituality. Africans enjoy
dancing, clapping, ululating, and celebrating
life during their ceremonies.28
The second wave of Pentecostal-charismatic
expansion started in the 1960s. Dennis Bennett,
an Anglican priest in California, declared in
1959 to members of the church that he had
been filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke in
tongues. The event inaugurated the charis-
matic renewal movement in mainline churches
including the Roman-Catholic church of
Europe, North America, South Africa and Latin
America.29 It focused on spiritual healing and
other charismatic practices. Unlike in classic
Pentecostalism, members of mainline churches
were not encouraged to leave their churches in
search of other, spirit-filled faith communities.
Revival and liturgical renewal took place within
the respective mainline churches.30 This second
wave is often called “the charismatic move-
ment” because there was a strong emphasis on
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and the use of
spiritual gifts without, however, pressing the
faithful to leave their mainline churches.31
27 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 26.
28M. E. McGann, ‘Timely Wisdom, Prophetic Challenge:
Rediscovering Clarence R. J. River’s Vision of Effective
Worship’, Worship 76.1 (2002): 2–24, on 19.
29 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 27.
30 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 27.
31United Church of Zambia (UCZ) Theological College,
Guidelines on Charismatic Worship (2001; Submitted to
Synod of the United Church of Zambia in 1999), 30.
6 The Expository Times 
The third wave of the Pentecostal-
charismatic movement started in the 1980s and
continues in the present. It accentuates a belief
in signs and wonders and the importance of
spiritual healing. It focuses on the healing of
diabetes, HIV, and AIDS, the anointing with
oil, blessing by the laying on of hands, revers-
ing generational curses, blessings for material
wealth such as cars, scholarships, and visas to
the USA and UK.32 In this stage of the move-
ment, entrepreneurship and individual leader-
ship are emphasized.33 There is an increased
use of the print media, social media such as
Facebook, video-conferencing, and the use
of satellite TV stations. The contemporary
Pentecostal-charismatic movement has, after
1990, changed its outlook by concentrating
on health and material wealth in the here-and-
now. The Toronto blessings in the mid-1990s
are seen as the origins of this trend.34 The new
wave of, what is now called, the neo-charis-
matic movement is characterised by speaking
in tongues, the prosperity gospel, evangelistic
campaigns and conferences by televangelists
and the opening of churches or ministries by
individuals.35 It is believed that God operates
outside the confines of the church and the Bible.
Since 2000, the Christian church in Africa has
witnessed extraordinary miracles, performed by
multibillionaire televangelists such as prophet
T. B. Joshua of SCOAN in Nigeria and prophet
Shepherd Bushiri, a Malawian post-modern
pastor, based in South Africa.36
The division of the Pentecostal-charismatic
movement into three stages in history is not
absolute. Some insights and practices are found
in all three stages. Varied expressions and the-
ologies occur in the movement, and there is
32 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 27.
33 Cf. Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 27.
34 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 27.
35 Sikazwe, ‘Charismatic Worship’, 1.
36<http://shepherdbushiriministries.info/team/prophet-
shepherd-bushiri/>. Accessed 15/12/2015; <http://www.
scoan.org/about/history>. Accessed 11/08/2014.
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more than one Pentecostal and charismatic the-
ology is in use. Different experiences within the
movement(s) are identified. Some Pentecostal-
charismatic churches adhere to a theology that
is not distinct from that of mainstream creeds
and confessions. Hazra notes:
It is in the spirit and tradition of the older
Pentecostalism, i.e. stress on body life as
mutual ministry, emphasis on Spirit baptism as
a post-conversion necessity, tongues as a sign
of its supernatural healing. But, unlike classical
Pentecostalism, the charismatic movement
did not originate from an ethnic base nor did
it evolve into a distinct denomination and
majors on other manifestations of the Spirit
not characteristic of the older movement. …
The movement is concerned to renew inherited
church traditions. The movement is generally
loyal to what its church professes as a starting
point but wants to revitalise the church
practice.37
The Pentecostal-charismatic movement shares
some roots and characteristics with renewal
movements that were active long before the
dawn of classical Pentecostalism. These include
the Montanist movement of the 2nd century ce
that represented a reaction to the formalism
of the church and that aimed to reinstate the
role of the spirit in daily Christian life, and the
Anabaptists of the 16th century who were fore-
runners of the Brethren. The Anabaptists con-
demned the Baptist denominations as heretical
for their enthusiasm.38
The role of the Holy Spirit was, from the 5th
century to 14th century, not emphasized in the
church. However, in the 1500s the Protestant
reformation took place, inspired by Martin
Luther, John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and oth-
ers. There were different strands of reformation.
The more radical reformers emphasized the role
of the spirit of God and criticised Luther for not
allowing them to exercise their spirituality in
37 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 27.
38 Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 26.
Kangwa
worship services. In the end, these critics were
expelled from the church.39
Other revival movements in the past were
the Great Awakenings in the United States and
Europe between the 1740s and 1850s. The
revival movement in Britain was character-
ised by its return to ‘biblical holiness’ and an
emphasis on spiritual gifts. It coincided with
the Great Awakening in America and Pietism
in Germany. Many pioneers of revival move-
ments, especially in America, were people who
had been excommunicated from the Church of
England on the grounds of their emphasis on
spiritual revival.40 Camp meetings by reviv-
alists were associated with the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit. The Wesleyan or Methodist
revival meetings in 1849 were described as
follows:
There is a stamping and bouncing, jumping
and falling, crying and howling, groaning and
sighing, all praying in confusion, a rude singing
of the most vulgar street songs so that it must be
loathing to an educated man, and fill the serious
Christian with painful emotions.41
Among past revivals in other parts of the world
are those in the AICs. In 1930 there was a revival
movement in East Africa and in the 1950s Alice
Lenshina in Zambia conducted revival and
witchcraft eradication meetings which drew
many members of the Roman Catholic Church
and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.
Although aspects of Pentecostal and charis-
matic spirituality could be detected in AICs as
early as the 1930s, classical Pentecostalism as
such reached Zambia in the late 1960s after the
country’s political independence, In the 1970s
and early 1980s, large Pentecostal churches
with links to the USA began to emerge. In the
late 1970s, some mainline churches such as the
Roman Catholic Church and the UCZ began to
UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
39
Worship, 31.
UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
40
Worship, 30.
41 Cited in Hazra, ‘Background to Pentecostalism’, 28.
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7
adopt a Pentecostal and charismatic way of wor-
ship, including speaking in tongues and shout-
ing. This led to divisions in the church between
charismatic and non-charismatic members. In
the 1980s the demand in mainline church con-
gregations for Pentecostal and charismatic wor-
ship programmes increased, and some church
members were excommunicated for speaking in
tongues, casting out demons, and holding all-
night prayer meetings. In the 1990s mainline
churches like the UCZ began to accommodate
Pentecostal and charismatic worship.42
Impact on the United
Church of Zambia
The impact of the Pentecostal-charismatic
movement on the UCZ became evident in the
late 1970s. Two camps emerged. The camp
that supported Pentecostal-charismatic worship
consisted mostly of youths, while among the
opponents elders and ministers were found. The
tension between the camps resulted in splits in
the church in 1980.43 In many UCZ congrega-
tions, members of youth fellowships left to join
Pentecostal churches. Some formed their own
churches. It became difficult for the advocates
of Pentecostal-charismatic worship to remain in
UCZ congregations, which were traditionally
Methodist or Presbyterian and where they could
be suspended for speaking in tongues. Some
who today are prominent pastors and bishops
in Pentecostal churches such as Bernard Nwaka
of Living Water Global Ministries in Kitwe, left
UCZ at this stage.44
The growth of the Pentecostal-charismatic
movement was promoted by Frederick Chiluba
when, in December 1991, soon after assum-
ing office as president of Zambia, he declared
42 UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
Worship, 31.
43 UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
Worship, 31.
44 UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
Worship, 31.
8 The Expository Times 
Zambia to be a “Christian nation”.45 Pastor
Never Mumba, General Godfrey Miyanda, and
other Pentecostal enthusiasts strongly supported
the declaration. Many Christians now joined
politics and Christian civil society organisations
in an effort to achieve a “Christian democracy”.
Chiluba himself appointed Pastor Danny Pule
as deputy minister of finance. During Chiluba’s
presidency, a good deal of financial support was
given to pastors for the building of churches
and the presidential fund donated vehicles to
churches. President Chiluba would even spon-
sor pastors so that they could attend crusades
organised by the American televangelist Benny
Hinn.46 With Zambia wide open to Pentecostal-
charismatic perceptions, churches proliferated.
The growth of the Pentecostal-charismatic
movement presented mainline churches
with a powerful challenge. Many of the new
Pentecostal-charismatic churches had links
with televangelists in the USA.47 In 1992, a
group of ministers in the UCZ organised a
group of youths and other members to request
formally the introduction of charismatic wor-
ship in the church, but the UCZ synod did
not wish to hear of it. The result was another
schism in 1993, when the majority of its mem-
bers, including ministers, some lay leaders, and
especially young people, left the UCZ to form
a new church called Grace Ministries.48 It was
the most significant schism in the history of the
UCZ. Some ministers left the church taking with
them almost their entire congregation. Among
the ministers who left the UCZ were the Rev.
Sampa, Rev. Mrs. Sampa, Rev. Chibesakunda,
Rev. Catherine Mumba, Rev. Peter Mutale, and
Rev. Sinyola. Rev. Chibesakunda became the
first bishop of Grace Ministries and was later
45 Phiri, ‘President Frederick Chiluba’, 95.
46Cf. Phiri, ‘President Frederick Chiluba’, 96; Paul, Gifford,
African Christianity: Its Public Role (Bloomington, IN:
Indiana University Press, 1998).
47 Gifford, African Christianity, 181–231.
48Charles Lungu, personal communication with the author
on Grace Ministries (16th January, 2016); UCZ Theological
College, Guidelines on Charismatic Worship, 31.
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replaced by Rev. Peter Mutale. Grace Ministries
became popular and, like other newly formed
Pentecostal-charismatic churches, it received
some support from the president of Zambia.
The new churches made no distinction between
the spiritual and the material world and many
pastors prayed for President Frederick Chiluba
praising him as a “new Moses of Zambia.”49
In 1999, in an effort to stop the loss of
members and to prevent further schisms in the
church, the UCZ synod circulated a question-
naire, asking congregants for their views on
Pentecostal-charismatic worship. As it turned
out, most members of the church were in favour.
Hence, the UCZ synod resolved to accom-
modate Pentecostal-charismatic worship in its
services. The UCZ Theological College was
tasked with providing guidelines. The student
body of the UCZ Theological College listed
the following points concerning the practice of
charismatic worship and these were adopted by
the UCZ synod in 1999.50
•• Teaching on charismatic worship is
essential, beginning with ministers, then
church leaders and members;
•• Ministers and church members should
not impose their ways of worship on
other members;
•• People should be encouraged to use their
various gifts for the benefit and edifica-
tion of the church;
•• Gifts should be tested as true or false
gifts. Both the Old Testament and the
New Testament stress the need to test
spiritual gifts on their conformity to
scripture, their consistency and whether
they exalt the Lord (Dt 13:1–5, 18:21–
22, Mt 7:15–20, 1 Cor 12:1–3).
•• Worship and order of service should be
in line with that presently practised in the
49 Cf. Phiri, ‘President Frederick Chiluba’, 96.
50UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
Worship, 31–32; The United Church of Zambia, Minutes of
the synod Executive Committee Meeting Held from 3rd–4th
November, 2013 at Diakonia Centre in Kabwe, Zambia,
90–91.
Kangwa
UCZ, with minor adjustments where the
need arises.
•• Order must be maintained in the church
during worship;
•• Charismatic praise and worship should
be included in the order of service;
•• Individual praying should be allowed
during the prayer of confession;
•• Moderate dancing, ululation, raising and
clapping of hands should be free but
whistling should not be allowed;
•• Sermon delivery in the church should
be restricted to the pulpit or a small area
around it.
•• Altar calls should be made only when
there is a need, for example during spe-
cial seasons of the Christian year such as
Advent and Lent;
•• Exorcism or casting out demons should
not be conducted during worship, and
only when there is genuine need outside
worship when a group of church leaders
should be involved. The charismatic doc-
trine that all illnesses are the result of sin
or lack of faith should be discouraged;
•• When being baptised, catechumens
should be given the choice between
immersion and sprinkling;
•• Respect for new converts should be
observed.
The guidelines opened the road for the intro-
duction of charismatic worship in the UCZ.
It was emphasized that “charismatic intoler-
ance of non-charismatic worship should not
be allowed in church, and both types of wor-
shippers, charismatic and conservative, should
be encouraged to work together for the sake
of unity and harmony within the church”.51
The older generation of ministers, trained by
western missionaries, did not whole-heartedly
accept the Pentecostal and charismatic ways
of worship. Those who were charismatic, were
derogatorily referred to as “born again”. On the
UCZ Theological College, Guidelines on Charismatic
51
Worship, 32.
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9
other hand, the youth regarded ministers who
were against Pentecostal-charismatic worship
as “un-spiritual”. The accommodation of char-
ismatic worship has helped the UCZ to retain
members. The majority of those who left to
join Grace Ministries did return to the UCZ.
Rev. Catherine Mumba was one of those who
re-joined the UCZ, while Rev. Sampa and Mrs.
Sampa left Grace Ministries to form their own
church.52
Since 2000, the landscape of Pentecostal-
charismatic worship in Zambia has changed
tremendously. New beliefs and practices, some
of which appear to be secular rather than sacred,
have emerged. The new trends include praying
for containers of water, applying anointing oil
on the private parts of women to chase demons,
miracle money, sowing a seed for financial
blessings and material prosperity. On the musi-
cal scene, the youth have reinvented gospel
music by incorporating African and South
American beats such as kalindula and rumba
and by mixing in contemporary western types
of music such as R&B.53 The Mount Sinai
choir in Kitwe and the Faithful Melody Choir
in Chililambombwe have introduced the use of
modern instruments and choirs in the UCZ use
a distal form of dance called sokola hip.54
In the Zambian context of high unemploy-
ment levels and general economic challenges,
Zambians often choose to hold dual church
membership. They keep up their UCZ mem-
bership and follow UCZ services, but they
also attend the miracle and prophetic services
conducted by Pentecostal-charismatic prophets
and apostles who promise them material wealth
and a solution to health problems. Furthermore,
UCZ members have travelled to Nigeria,
Zimbabwe, and South Africa for the purpose of
52 Charles Lungu, personal communication.
53Lovemore Togarasei, Modern/charismatic Pentecostalism
as a form of ‘religious’ secularization in Africa, Studia
Historiae Ecclesiasticae 41.1 (2015): 56–66, on 62.
54 UCZ Faithful Melody Choir, <https://www.youtube.
com/watch?v=6yxM0yVawvc&list=PL6ECB2E8627426
5B7>. Accessed 14/01/2014.
10
buying anointing oil from prophets such as T. B.
Joshua and Shepherd Bushiri. In order to solve
this situation, the UCZ synod has appointed a
committee to review the 1999 guidelines on
charismatic worship. The committee has met at
the Diakonia Centre in Kabwe, Zambia between
the 5th and 7th of September, 2013 and submit-
ted a report to the synod.55 The synod decided
to uphold the guidelines of 1999 but made the
following adjustments and additions.56
•• To accommodate charismatic worship in
the church;
•• To include charismatic praise and wor-
ship in the Sunday service;
•• To include individual and collective
prayers during confession and after char-
ismatic praise and worship;
•• Sermon delivery in the church has to
be open to allow for a flexible pulpit
occupation;
•• Altar calls should be made whenever the
need arises, without waiting for special
seasons of the Christian year such as
Advent and Lent;
•• Healing in UCZ should be encouraged,
but the belief that all illnesses are the
result of sin or lack of faith should be
discouraged
•• Playing music or singing in the back-
ground when someone is praying is
allowed;
•• So is the use of anointing oil and water;
•• Making pilgrimage to Israel is accepted
as an aim of church members.
The new rules are an indication that the
UCZ cannot ignore the Pentecostal-charismatic
movement if it is serious about its renewal and
transformation.57 Ministers and members were
55The United Church of Zambia, Minutes of the Synod
Executive Committee, 90–92.
56The United Church of Zambia, Minutes of the Synod
Executive Committee, 90–92.
57The United Church of Zambia, Minutes of the Synod
Executive Committee, 92.
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The Expository Times 
encouraged to ignore beliefs and practices
such as going to the mountains to pray, “sow-
ing the seed” or the prosperity gospel, and the
conducting of deliverance and miracles during
the church service. The UCZ synod does today
sell anointing oil and water, and ministers in the
various UCZ congregations are doing the same.
Every year, in October, a pilgrimage to Israel is
organised.
The changes in the UCZ under the influ-
ence of the Pentecostal-charismatic movement
in Zambia confirm that social, economic, and
political factors do play a role in the shaping
of people’s religious beliefs and practices.
Anderson writes:
most Pentecostal movements ‘came into being as
missionary institutions’ and their mission work
was ‘not the result of some clearly thought out
theological decision, and so policy and methods
were formed mostly in the crucible of missionary
praxis’. It must be acknowledged that despite
the seeming naiveté of many early Pentecostals,
their evangelistic methods were flexible,
pragmatic and astonishingly successful.58
The Pentecostal-charismatic churches do not
suggest that the secular and the sacred belong
to different realms. As opposed to the mission
churches, there is in Pentecostal-charismatic
churches and their missionary endeavours no
trace of such a dichotomy. This “missiologi-
cal thrust” has been a strong point, central to
the existence of Pentecostal-charismatic
churches.59 The emphasis on healing, proph-
ecy, and God’s blessings on earth has made
Pentecostal-charismatic worship very appeal-
ing to Zambians who face economic, social,
58A. Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth of
Pentecostalism in Africa’ (Centre for Missiology and
World Christianity, University of Birmingham, 2000).
<http://www.artsweb.bham.ac.uk/aanderson/publications/
evangelism_and_the_growth_of_pen.htm>. Accessed
17/02/2016.
59Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth of
Pentecostalism’; Willem A. Saayman, ‘Some reflections
on the Development of the Pentecostal Mission Model in
South Africa’, Missionalia 21.1 (1993): 40–56, on 42, 51.
Kangwa
health, and political challenges. It appears
justified to argue that the expansion of the
Pentecostal-charismatic movement in Africa
can be largely attributed to its resilience and
its adaptability to African cultural values and
expressions. This resilience is often referred
to as the “oral structures” of the Pentecostal-
charismatic movement.60 The oral structures
include oral liturgy, the participation of the
entire community of worshipers in the liturgy,
an emphasis on visions and dreams in wor-
ship, healing by prayer, prophecy, and liturgi-
cal dance. These features of spirituality are also
found in African culture.61 The UCZ and other
mainline churches are today attracting members
by using oral liturgy and oral structures, learnt
from Pentecostal-charismatic churches.
Pentecostalism and its emphasis on the ‘free-
dom in the Spirit’ have led to a greater flexibility
of Christianity, so that today it is able to adapt
to widely differing cultural, social, economic,
and political contexts. As a result Pentecostal-
charismatic churches have become home to
many of the marginalized in Africa and to
minorities in the western world.62 Their empha-
sis on the offering of solutions for presently-felt
needs, like sickness, poverty, the perceived con-
sequences of witchcraft, and the actions of evil
spirits distinguishes Pentecostal-charismatic
churches from the mission churches, where
European missionaries and the African church
leaders who took over from them tended to
ignore African problems. European missionar-
ies based their liturgy and worship on 19th- and
20th-century European spirituality, while the
minds of UCZ ministers trained by them were
colonised to such degree that they felt they
should preach, sing, and dress like Europeans.
In the Mindolo congregation and at the UCZ
Theological College, hymns composed by
60Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth
Pentecostalism’.
61Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth
Pentecostalism’.
62Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth
Pentecostalism’.
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11
reformers in Europe, such as Charles Wesley,
John Wesley, and Henry Francis Lyte, had
to be followed strictly. Spontaneous worship
and dancing in the African manner were not
allowed. No movements were allowed in church
during preaching.63 Ministers such as the Rev.
Joel Chisanga fully adhered to the western way
of worship taught by the western missionaries
such as Rev. Vernon Stone. Similarly, demon
casting and prayers that were Pentecostal or
charismatic in outlook were prohibited. In many
UCZ congregations such as Lubwa, Mbereshi,
St. Marks, Nchanga, and St. Andrews in Ndola,
church members who adopted Pentecostal and
charismatic worship modes were expelled.64
However, it became increasingly clear that the
theology, liturgy, and forms of worship, left
by the missionaries and adopted by UCZ after
union in 1965, failed to appeal to the psyche of
Africans.
It can be argued therefore that, despite its
flaws,65 the Pentecostal-charismatic movement
has served as a “renovator” of theology, mis-
sion, and worship in mainline churches. In the
case of the UCZ, it has challenged the church
to engage with the social, cultural, economic,
and political needs of the people in a manner
that corresponds to the African worldview.
63 P. B. Mushindo, The life of a Zambian Evangelist: The
Reminiscence of the Reverend Paul Bwembya Mushindo
(Lusaka: University of Zambia Institute for African Studies,
1973).
64 Mushindo, The Life of a Zambian Evangelist; Jonathan
Kangwa, ‘David Julizya Kaunda and Paul Bwembya
Mushindo in a history of the United Church of Zambia:
Reflections on a Journey and Vision for the Paradigm Shift,
Expository Times 127.4 (2016): 166–180, on 174; cf. J. van
Velsen, ‘Editorial Foreword’, in Paul B. Mushindo, The life
of a Zambian Evangelist: The reminiscence of the Reverend
Paul Bwembya Mushindo (Lusaka: University of Zambia
Institute for African Studies, 1973), i–viii.
65 Pentecostalism has often been condemned for embracing
of and externalizing western notions of a nuclear family,
individualized urban lifestyles, and a capitalist type of
entrepreneurship. The phenomenon has also been blamed
of
for neglecting African traditional culture and ethnic ties
while embracing secular western culture. See Anderson,
of Evangelism and the growth of Pentecostalism, 13,
Togarasei, ‘Modern/charismatic Pentecostalism’, 56–66.
12
At the same time the movement has made the
church see the need to make better use of tech-
nological advancements that have come with
globalisation and postmodernism. The result
is that churches have opened radio stations
and accessed social media. While some main-
line churches have reacted to the Pentecostal-
charismatic movement with hostility and by
being on the defensive, the UCZ has adapted.
It has adapted and adjusted its beliefs and prac-
tices to suit the demands of its congregants in
the social, economic, political, and spiritual
context of Zambia today.66
Conclusion
Hodges states:
There is no place on earth where, if the gospel
seed be properly planted, it will not produce an
indigenous church. The Holy Spirit can work
in one country as well as in another. To proceed
on the assumption that the infant church in any
66Cf. Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth of
Pentecostalism’, 13.
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The Expository Times 
land must always be cared for and provided for
by the mother mission is an unconscious insult
to the people that we endeavour to serve, and
is evidence of a lack of faith in God and in the
power of the gospel.67
The Pentecostal-charismatic movement has
gone a long way in challenging the mainline
churches in Africa in their various contem-
porary contexts to become more relevant by
responding to the specific physical, emo-
tional, and spiritual needs of people in Africa.
Pentecostal-charismatic churches in their many
and varied forms appeal to a new generation
of Africans. The movement has inspired the
UCZ to reinvent itself in response to the needs
of Zambians today. The churches in the global
north— where, judging by the number of peo-
ple who attend church services, Christianity is
declining— could learn a lesson from African
Pentecostal-charismatic churches regarding the
need to be flexible and adapt to local cultures
and contexts.
67Cited in Anderson, ‘Evangelism and the Growth of
Pentecostalism’, 13.